Butterfly rebounding from extinction threat

LOS ANGELES — Amid surfers and skaters, a tiny butterfly has scored a telling victory in its fight against extinction.

The rare El Segundo blue has returned to two popular beaches southwest of Los Angeles where it has not been seen in decades.

This is no mere academic sighting of a rare species.

Scientists say they are surprised at the resurgence. Dozens of the rare butterflies are thriving, not in some rarefied fenced-off reserve but in public view at county beaches in Redondo Beach and Torrance.

"You could open the car door, and they could hit you in the face," said conservation expert Travis Longcore recently, gesturing at creatures no bigger than a thumbnail flitting a few feet away from parked SUVs.

The El Segundo blue is found nowhere in the world but the southeastern shores of Santa Monica Bay.

Scientists staved off its extinction for years at three sites off-limits to the public. They estimate the current population remains low -- only in the tens of thousands.

Now, the butterflies seem to be declaring independence.

They forged ahead on their own to reach new native vegetation at the two beaches. There they are mating and feasting on the buckwheat nectar they crave.

That proved wrong the biologists who called the species too sedentary to fly long distances.

This success story was led by a grass-roots team of residents and two non-profits, the Urban Wildlands Group and the Los Angeles Conservation Corps' lab program.

They used a simple scientific formula: Put in the buckwheat.

Starting in 2004, they stripped thick green carpets of non-native ice plant from small areas on beach bluffs in Redondo Beach and Torrance. Month after month, they restored the scrub plants that flourished here centuries ago, including buckwheat.

Years ago, builders laced sand dunes with ice plant to guard against blowing sand and erosion. The South African import crowded out native plants.

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Flying on the edge

STATUS: The El Segundo blue butterfly has been protected since 1976 under the Endangered Species Act.

LOOKS: Usually less than 1 inch across. While its wings' upper side is a distinctive blue, its underside is gray with spots, as shown above.

LIFE: Emerges in summer when flowers of seacliff buckwheat open. Adults live a few days to mate and lay eggs. The larvae feed on flower heads for about a month.